Fearless (Bellamy Blake - Book 1)

Chapter 46

We walk through the woods for hours after leaving camp, the moon and our torches lighting the way as we scour through the trees. Since Bellamy and I were the last people to see her when we were on our way to the pod drop site, we decided to start in this direction to look for Octavia. Despite leaving a few kids behind to protect the camp, almost everyone is out with us looking for her and although it should warm me that we can come together as a community (even under Bellamy's orders) it actually terrifies me that we have no idea where Octavia is, or who has her. 

If she was taken by Grounders then we need to be prepared for a trap with the possibility of a fight, but we're not ready for that. The Grounders threw a spear across a river and managed to pierce Jasper in his chest without killing him instantly, that takes some major training and pin point accuracy and my axe throwing skills definitely can't beat that. 

I mean, we're just kids, how the heck are we supposed to be able to fight and kill people who have probably trained for their entire lives? 

It makes me think that maybe we do need to rest of the Ark to come down, the Guard could definitely protect us from the Grounders. 

I dart my eyes around the kids surrounding me, the Guard locked us all up once, who's to say they won't do it again? Heck, what's to say they won't actively search for the Grounders to start a war? At least for now we have time to prepare ourselves as much as possible, and hope that our first encounter with them is our last. And as for the rest of the Ark's population, there's way too many people to make camp at the drop ship, which means that we'd have to find a new area to make camp, leaving behind all of our hard work in building that wall and making a community.

But we've already sent the flares up into the sky, which means it's only a matter of time before the Ark arrives to the Ground, so there's no point in me fighting it anymore.  

A frustrated sigh sounding from beside me draws my attention, and I turn my head to look at Bellamy, who's head darts around frantically, looking for any sign of his sister. 

"Hey, we'll find her." I tell him, trying my best to console him. 

"We don't even know if this is the right way." He shakes his head. "For all we know, we've just been walking around aimlessly and she's not gonna be anywhere near here."

Before I can reply, Mbege calls out to us from up ahead. "Look, over here!"

Bellamy and I run to where he is, breaking out of the tree line and looking down at a steep incline, the rest of the kids following us. 

"What is it?" Bellamy asks, hope in his voice. 

"Right there, you see it?" Mbege points down to the bush at the middle of the hill, where a piece of dark cloth is embedded in a branch.

"Rope." Bellamy demands, the flickering light of the torches lighting up the sides of his face as he stares down the hill with determination. Someone passes forward some rope, and I watch as Bellamy secures it around a boulder. 

"What are you doing?" Finn asks from behind me as he frowns at Bellamy. 

"I need the rope to get back up." Bellamy replies as he throws the rope down the hill. "Flashlight." He takes the flashlight from Mbege and puts it in his pocket before taking a deep breath and manoeuvring down the hill, holding the rope behind him for support. 

I blindly hand the torch in my hand to some kid beside me and step forward in anticipation as Bellamy reaches the bush and grabs the cloth, inspecting it. 

"Bell?" I ask, fighting the urge to get embarrassed at using Octavia's nickname for him--again--in front of everyone else. 

"It's hers!" He calls up, those two words filling me with a sense of hope that we're nearing Octavia. Bellamy pushes aside the branch and continues down the rope. "I'm going all the way down." 

Without hesitating I position myself in front of the rope and start to shimmy my way down, ignoring the questions and dubious remarks from the kids behind me. I keep a firm grip on the rope to keep my balance as my feet shuffle along the soil, but my hands quickly become hot and sore from the rope burn. I didn't realise how quick I was going until I approach the bottom, my eyes widening as I jump from the hill to the more even ground, thankfully landing on my feet. I hiss as I let go of the rope, my hands slightly red and sore. 

I clench my hands closed as someone lands beside me and I nod up at Jasper, silently commending him for his new found bravery before we both make our way over to Bellamy who hunches over a rock, flashlight in hand. 

"Is that...?" I trail off, looking down at the few specks of dark liquid on the rock before us, shifting my gaze to Bellamy's fingers that have red on them. Octavia's blood. 

Finn jumps down from the hill and brings his torch over to us, giving us more light as he scans the area. 

"Someone else was here." Bellamy says, his voice unwavering and deep. I follow his gaze to the deep footprint in the mud, and frown. 

"The prints are deeper going that way." Finn points out ahead of us as more people drop down behind us. We're all silent for a moment as we try to figure out what it means, and my head snaps up to Finn at his next words; "He was carrying her."

"If they took her then she's alive." Jasper says, his voice shaky. "Like when they took me."

Bellamy suddenly gets a sullen look on his face and I resist sighing. "Not helping, Jasper." I hiss at him. But he's right, this is like when Jasper got taken. 

The thought hits Bellamy hard, and he stands and follows the trail of footprints, the rest of us quickly following behind him.